As a teacher I feel like it is my responsibility to learn as well as teach.Because of this, it is very important for me to develop myself intellectually constantly.This can be achieved through continuous higher education, involvement in current events, workshops, etc.Whatever I can do to make myself more well rounded and better adapted in my content knowledge, the better a teacher I can become.My students deserve to have a teacher that can relate content knowledge to real world applications, which will hopefully make the content interesting.Also, I plan on relating the content interdisciplinarily, to ensure that the multiple intelligences and varying subject interests by students are met.
Overall, I want to teach to the students strengths as much as possible, through the use of hands on activities and through “doing” rather than “seeing or hearing”.“I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand”.This could be my teaching philosophy in as simple of words as possible.I would only add that I would like to connect the material to the real world scenarios.Finding ways to make students interested or engaged is one area that I consider to be a top priority.It is also the area where I have the lowest success rate, especially in high school.Learning becomes much easier when students have some enjoyment in the material.Unfortunately, schools are changing the curriculum in ways that do not promote understanding of concepts from an experience based platform.They are more designed toward teaching towards standards that are based upon standardized tests.These standardized tests do not make it possible for teachers to cover information that is key to understanding the foundations of certain concepts.The information taught is more superficial.The example I have is the survey of Harvard students being asked what the cause of the changing seasons is.80% got the answer wrong, which just goes to show that they learned information about the solar system, physics, chemistry, biology, physiology, etc, but do not understand the fundamental principles of the nature of seasonal change.I guess what I am trying to say is that all of these “intellectuals” and “educated” people with multiple degrees definitely have knowledge, but are not using it effectively.They were not taught at a younger age how to use the knowledge they learned and apply it to life as much as they could have.Knowledge is power, but utilizing that knowledge is much more powerful.As a teacher, my main goal is to give my students an opportunity to utilize the knowledge they sense in my classroom.I want them to leave my classroom with a sense of understanding in an area that they are interested in.
I am constantly refocusing my philosophy, and receiving new information and stimuli from my surroundings that affect my philosophy.In fact, this written philosophy here on this page has evolved over its 3 days of completion, and will continue to evolve as I learn new things and strategies.I guess this process is synonymous with the philosophy itself, in that as a teacher I will always have to evolve my teaching styles and methods of engagement to suit the diverse individuals in the many classes I will come across.
As a teacher I feel like it is my responsibility to learn as well as teach. Because of this, it is very important for me to develop myself intellectually constantly. This can be achieved through continuous higher education, involvement in current events, workshops, etc. Whatever I can do to make myself more well rounded and better adapted in my content knowledge, the better a teacher I can become. My students deserve to have a teacher that can relate content knowledge to real world applications, which will hopefully make the content interesting. Also, I plan on relating the content interdisciplinarily, to ensure that the multiple intelligences and varying subject interests by students are met.
Overall, I want to teach to the students strengths as much as possible, through the use of hands on activities and through “doing” rather than “seeing or hearing”. “I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand”. This could be my teaching philosophy in as simple of words as possible. I would only add that I would like to connect the material to the real world scenarios. Finding ways to make students interested or engaged is one area that I consider to be a top priority. It is also the area where I have the lowest success rate, especially in high school. Learning becomes much easier when students have some enjoyment in the material. Unfortunately, schools are changing the curriculum in ways that do not promote understanding of concepts from an experience based platform. They are more designed toward teaching towards standards that are based upon standardized tests. These standardized tests do not make it possible for teachers to cover information that is key to understanding the foundations of certain concepts. The information taught is more superficial. The example I have is the survey of Harvard students being asked what the cause of the changing seasons is. 80% got the answer wrong, which just goes to show that they learned information about the solar system, physics, chemistry, biology, physiology, etc, but do not understand the fundamental principles of the nature of seasonal change. I guess what I am trying to say is that all of these “intellectuals” and “educated” people with multiple degrees definitely have knowledge, but are not using it effectively. They were not taught at a younger age how to use the knowledge they learned and apply it to life as much as they could have. Knowledge is power, but utilizing that knowledge is much more powerful. As a teacher, my main goal is to give my students an opportunity to utilize the knowledge they sense in my classroom. I want them to leave my classroom with a sense of understanding in an area that they are interested in.
I am constantly refocusing my philosophy, and receiving new information and stimuli from my surroundings that affect my philosophy. In fact, this written philosophy here on this page has evolved over its 3 days of completion, and will continue to evolve as I learn new things and strategies. I guess this process is synonymous with the philosophy itself, in that as a teacher I will always have to evolve my teaching styles and methods of engagement to suit the diverse individuals in the many classes I will come across.